People on park benches tell great stories.
Sitting on benches, enjoying a rest or waiting for family, people at the GDS Fair smiled warmly at passersby. Sure, you could sit next to them. Yes, they’d love to chat.
Robert Lupyak of Dyberry, head of the Sheep Department, was enjoying the old gas engine demonstrations nearby. He’s been helping at the fair for 40 years.
He still lives on the family farm, though they’ve long since sold off the cows. He was 13-years-old when they move to the farm. “I’m 80 now, so you figure,” he said as to how many years he’s lived there. “I liked haying. Everything there is, I liked,” he said about farming life. Was it hard? “Ah, not really,” he said.
“In 1972, [we] sold the cows all out. We went to sheep and I’ve been down here ever since,” he said. “Fleece was worth money then — a dollar some cents a pound. You made money then, but then [demand] came down and you couldn’t even give it away.”
Bob and Peggy Grabowski
Bob Grabowski was waiting for his wife, Peggy. How long have they been attending the GDS Fair? “Oh my gosh, I would say five or six years. And the only reason it’s only been five or six yeas is I retired from Connecticut. My wife is looking around, I’m just sitting here enjoying the view,” he said with a laugh. Horses are his favorite part. That and the pirogues, can’t leave without having some of those, he says.
Peggy arrives on scene to say the animals are her favorite, with horses at the top of the list. She wants to go see the chickens next. Bob’s mom had chickens when he was young. “He used to harass them,” she says with a chuckle.
The Molls and Phillipses
Howard Phillips was born and raised in Sterling. Though he spent 36 years enjoying Whitehall, PA with wife June, they eventually came back to the family homestead.
While in Whitehall, they met Bill and Betty Moll, good neighbors who became great friends.
Asked what he likes best about the GDS Fair, Bill says, “the whole thing ...The food. Oh yeah, the cheese steak.” Wife Betty says it used to be about the homemade maple ice cream, something no longer offered at the fair. June says it was all about the homemade pie ala mode. Don’t leave out the maple syrup drizzled over top, says Howard.
